


What's Normal Anyway?

by ErikaWilliams



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, Keith in Hunk's clothes, Keith is a Werepanther, M/M, PINING KEITH, Shiro and Lance are Werewolves, Shiro and Lance mentioned only, The Galra are Weretigers, alcohol mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 17:50:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10313720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErikaWilliams/pseuds/ErikaWilliams
Summary: Keith has a secret.  He also has a huge crush on the local bartender.  Unfortunately, Hunk is human, and Keith doesn't want to get him involved in his supernatural life.Written for Heith Week 2017 Bear/Panther





	

Keith didn’t know why he kept doing this to himself, kept coming to this lively bar, barely listening to the hum of conversation surrounding him. His drink sat untouched on the counter in front of him, and he practically hovered above the stool. The air hummed with activity around him, and he twirled the mug around in his fingers. Alcohol could be a helpful social lubricant when used properly. Alcohol also did not mix well with his kind, which put him in the conundrum he found himself in. He was too nervous not to have it but also knew what a horrible idea it would be for him to imbibe. Not to mention if he drank he might blurt out his terrible secret. The secret which meant that his being here for his intended purpose was quite possibly the worse idea he had ever had.

Alcohol was also the most accessibly way to speak to the bartender, the real reason he kept coming to this bar every night. Keith had first gone there about three weeks ago with two of his friends. It was during that first night, seated at a table, that he had first glimpsed the bartender as he was smiling and laughing with one of his customers. He had been back every night since, drawn like a flame hungry for kindling. The first couple nights he had sat at one of the tables by himself, but eating out every night had quickly put a strain on his wallet.

After that, he moved to the bar where he could get a closer look at the bartender who had caught his interest. He had learned that the bartender’s name was Hunk, which as Keith watched him move, he found the name to be highly appropriate. Hunk was open and kind to all his customers but was not afraid to use a strong hand to escort them out if they got too unruly. Some nights Hunk substituted as line cook, where his true passions lay in the culinary arts he discovered from one of the regulars. On the nights Hunk was cooking instead of bartending, Keith always made sure to order some food instead of a drink. The food never failed to disappoint, even though he had always found it mediocre before.

He suddenly realized Hunk was standing in front of him and had said something to him while he had been staring blankly into his mug like some sort of fool. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked if there was something wrong with the drink,” Hunk repeated, gesturing to the mug in between them. “You’ve barely touched it all evening.”

“The drink is fine,” he muttered, not daring to meet Hunk’s warm eyes. It was the damnable crush that was the problem. Even if he did luck out and Hunk liked men, there was still the problem of his real identity. The identity that would forever stand between him and a relationship. He couldn’t tell Hunk the truth without driving him away. And he couldn’t entertain the notion of dating Hunk without telling him the truth. This secret had destroyed enough of his relationships already.

“Are you sure?” Hunk asked. “I’ll replace it with something more to your taste.” More to his taste would be a different universe, once in which this crush would not be so unbearable, one in which he did not have such a dreadful cross to bear, one in which he and Hunk could be on the same side of the bar, or, perhaps, one in which there was no bar.

“I just have a lot on my mind,” he excused before taking a sip of his drink that he couldn’t even remember the name of. He tried to hide the grimace and must have been successful because Hunk moved on to give another customer a refill. He missed Hunk’s presence almost immediately, and he watched him as he continued to work. Oh, if only things were different, and he would drink up the courage to ask Hunk out on a date. Not happening. His blood prevented him from a semblance of a normal life. What was normal anyway? He had nothing he could offer to Hunk except a heapload of trouble. No, it was much better to sit here and pretend to drink and imagine the life he would never have.

The evening grew late, and as it turned into early morning, people started to trickle out and back to their homes. He should have been going as well. He didn’t have his own transportation, and the three mile walk back to his house could be dangerous, especially in the wee hours of the morning. Could be, but he had more than one way to defend himself in those woods. Besides, he couldn’t leave yet, not while Hunk was still working.

Before long, he was the only one left at the bar, and Hunk was standing in front of him and taking away his still half-full glass. “Time for you to go home, buddy,” Hunk told him. Buddy. He called him buddy. It couldn’t meant anything, it was probably just because Hunk didn’t know his name. He came here every night to stare and had never bothered to properly introduce himself.

“Have a good night,” he said as he left a hefty tip and made his way out into the darkness. The gravel parking lot was well lit, but once in the woods he would have to rely on the moonlight. The roads were not much brighter, and it would more than double his trek. He knew the path through the woods well enough, and digging his hands into his pockets, he started on the path that would lead to the trailer he called home.

Walking through the trees at night, he could almost see as well as he could in the daytime. As long as he was paying attention. As he walked, his thoughts drifted, as they often did, back to Hunk who would be finishing up the work of closing the bar. His muscles would contract and ripple as he would throw the garbage into the dumpster behind the building. He had watched him once, just to make sure he was safe. There were things wandering around Louisiana that Hunk, human as he was, would never be able to defend himself against. 

He was so wrapped in his thoughts of Hunk, he didn’t realize he had company until two tigers and a man blocked the path in front of him. The tigers growled at him and dug their claws into the earth.

“Keith, it’s so good to see you again,” the man said with a leer that suggested anything but. It was his own fault, he had become too predictable, going to the same place every evening, had made a habit of something and his past had caught up to him. “Are you still running around with those wolves?”

“They’ve been better to me than any of you have ever been,” he retorted, even though he wished they were here with him now. Three tigers might be more than he could take on his own, and even though Shiro and Lance were smaller, he would have given almost anything to have them by his side at the moment.

“I’m sorry, Keith, but we can’t have you running around with wolves.”

The tiger on the left sprang at him without any further warning. He didn’t have time to think, only time to react. He Shifted, and flung himself away from the tiger’s reach. He rebounded off the trunk of a tree, claws leaving deep gouges and turned to face his assailants. His fur bristled on his hackles and his tail swished behind him. The third had turned tiger as well, so it was just him, a tiny panther, verses three giant tigers. He dodged their next attack and leaped to the other side of them. He couldn’t run. He had no guarantees that they would have any qualms about being seen by humans. And in this neighborhood, all four of them would likely be shot on sight just for being what they were.

He wasn’t as lucky in his next dodge, and one of the tigers scored a hit on his left hindquarter, and he nearly collapsed to the ground from the pain. That would be what they would want, for him to be overpowered. So he would be forced to admit that he was not better off without them. He pushed himself back to all four paws as they started to circle him. He had fought them off before and he would have to do it again.

Except last time, there had only been one of them, and he had Shiro and Lance with him. He had to push that thought away, it would only make him doubt himself. With a roar, he charged towards the largest of the tigers. He heard an answering roar, but it didn’t come from the tiger he was facing. He just needed to focus on one at a time. He sprang on the tiger with claws stretched out wide and fangs bared. He heard yelps of pain from the other tigers, but didn’t look at them. Perhaps Shiro and Lance had wondered where he had gone every night for the past two weeks. Their noses would be able to find him quickly. He scrapped with the largest tiger, trying to use anything, his smaller size, his agility, to his advantage. He made quick strikes, not staying in one place for long, a scratch here, a bite there. As long as he stayed on top, he would be fine. 

He was on the tiger’s back when he was caught. 

The tiger dug his claws into him and threw him to the ground. Dazed, he tried to push himself up, but the tiger pounced and pinned him down. The tiger raised his paw high, snarling as he prepared to strike down. Keith flinched against a blow that never came.

A large bear headbutted the tiger in the side, hurling it fifteen feet through the air. The bear with a sun painted muzzle roared after the tiger, and that was the roar that had answered his earlier. The other two tigers fled to their fallen leader’s side and helped him up. Keith rolled to his paws to stand beside the bear that had come to his rescue. Together, they roared at the tigers. He had never been happier to see something that wasn’t a werewolf or fellow werecat. The tigers much have deiced that the addition of a bear was too much for them as they turned tail and fled into the night. He was sure they would be back before long, but he had gained at least a few nights respite.

The bear next to him stood on his hind legs and Shifted back into a very naked Hunk. Suddenly, he was very glad that panthers could not blush, and he made the effort to look at something, anything, else. He wouldn’t be able to face himself if Hunk caught him staring at him now. Hunk, for his part, didn’t seem to notice that he had left his clothes back at the bar.

“Are you okay?” Hunk asked him, and so much for Hunk thinking he was just part of the natural wildlife. “You look like you’re bleeding.”

There was no help for it. He would have to change back into a human to answer Hunk and his clothes had been destroyed when he had changed. He didn’t exactly have time to take them off while he had been under attack. He Shifted back, instinctively covering himself with his hands. When he had pictured any full length conversations with Hunk outside of his business, he had always imagined the two of them wearing clothes.

“I’m fine,” he mumbled, grateful it was dark so Hunk could not see how embarrassed he was. His leg throbbed, but he was certain it would heal on its own swiftly enough. 

Hunk looked at him with a slight scowl for a few seconds longer, like he didn’t quite want to believe him. He was banking on Hunk not throwing him over his shoulder and carrying him to where he could get medical attention.

 

“I have some spare clothes back at the bar,” Hunk said, gesturing with his thumb. “You can borrow some to get back to your house. And while you’re at the bar, you can get that wound tended and have something warm to drink.”

“That sounds… good, actually.” He could rest his leg a little for the trip back home, and spend some time with Hunk who was not as human as he had thought. They started back the quarter mile to the bar, walking side by side, Keith making sure to keep his eyes on the path in front of him.

“How did you know where to find me?” he asked because the silence was very awkward considering they were both naked.

“I was taking the garbage out when I heard a noise. So I figured I should check it out.”

“You could have gotten hurt,” he pointed out, because he would have hated for Hunk to have been injured on his account. “They’ll probably come for you again.” Especially now that Hunk had come to Keith’s defense.

“Those tigers have been nothing but trouble since they moved into the neighborhood,” Hunk said with a snort. “They would have come for me eventually.”

Hunk let them back into the bar through a back door, and held it open for Keith to go inside first. He stood just inside the door while Hunk went into a door clearly marked employees only. He couldn’t exactly follow him in there, and he was starting to worry about running into other employees. Hopefully they had all gone home and Hunk had not left him out in the hallway naked to be found by somebody else. The bar was blessedly quiet however, so he started to relax, listening to the silence. This wasn’t so bad, and he was going to get to spend some alone time with Hunk without pretending to be drinking something.

Hunk popped back out of the room, fully dressed in his bar uniform again and carrying a bundle of clothes that he passed over to Keith. “There’s a first aid kit in the bathroom down the hall so you can take care of that injury and get dressed in some privacy. I’ll go get some water boiling for tea.” Hunk quickly disappeared down the hall, leaving him standing there with a bundle of clothes that had a faint trace of Hunk’s scent.

He followed the directions to the bathroom and pulled a bottle of alcohol out of the medicine cabinet. The wound was already starting to close, but he still needed to clean it out. Even with his kind’s advanced healing, infections were still nasty. He put everything back exactly where he found it and turned his attention to the clothes. Hunk hadn’t left him a pair of shoes, so he would still have to make the trek home barefoot. The pants he dismissed because he wasn’t sure they would stay rolled up and he didn’t feel like bending over to fix them every five steps. It would take him five hours to get home that way. There was a faded yellow shirt that smelled the most strongly of Hunk, and he pulled it over his head. The shirt was comfy and well worn, and long enough to provide adequate coverage. The darkness would give him everything else he needed. After he had a long overdue conversation with Hunk.

He stepped out of the bathroom and followed the dim lights back into the patron section of the bar. Hunk was seated at one of the booths, a steaming mug in front of him and a second at the empty space across from him.

“How’s your wound?” Hunk asked as Keith slid into the empty booth across from him.

“Better,” he responded as he made himself comfortable. It wasn’t hard in Hunk’s shirt, and the quiet of the empty bar. He looked at the mug in front of him. Tea. Just like Hunk had promised. At least it was something he would drink, and it might help to relax him after that fight with the tigers.

“So...” Hunk said, drumming his fingers on the side of his mug. “You’re a werepanther.” It wasn’t a question. Hunk had seen him in the forest and understood the full concept of what he was.

“Yeah,” he admitted softly, even though he wished he could disappear further into Hunk’s shirt. “Were…bear?” he asked because before tonight he hadn’t known such a thing had existed. But there had been a bear, and then that bear had turned into Hunk.

“No, nothing like that,” Hunk said, placing his hand behind his head. “I’m just a Shifter.”

“Just a Shifter?” How could Hunk think so little of himself? Shifters could be anything they wanted. A Shifter could even turn into a panther with him, and he suppressed a shudder as he thought about the… possibilities.. “You really saved my hide back there with those tigers.”

“What do they want with you anyway?”

“They think just because I’m a werecat I should run with them.” Their lifestyle was not exactly something he could condone.

“You’re far too good for them,” Hunk quickly reassured him. “I mean, from what I’ve seen of you being here every night. Not that I’ve been watching you or anything. You just seem like a good guy.” Hunk took a sip from his tea before he could say anything more.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes, Keith knowing he should be going home, but not wanting to leave Hunk’s presence when he finally got him to himself.

“Did you want to go out sometime?” Hunk asked him across their cups of tea. All his excuses were gone now that he knew Hunk existed in the same world he did. “I mean, you clearly weren’t coming here every night because you enjoy drinking.”

“So you noticed?” 

“I didn’t know if you were here for me or someone else,” Hunk told him with a sheepish grin. “You never said much, but I didn’t see you talking to anyone else either.”

“I thought you were human. I didn’t want to get you involved.”

“I’m involved now,” Hunk informed him. “Why don’t I give you a ride home so you don’t have to walk barefoot?”


End file.
